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Gnosticism, Colossians & Christianity
Fred R. Coulter—November 29, 2003
Today we’re going to cover Colossians 1 & 2 in a special
and a different way. What I’d like to do is mention that there is a second
edition of the book entitled Primitive Christianity in Crisis explaining
how the New Testament Church was overrun with Gnostic teachings. This is by
Alan Knight. Some of you may have his first edition already; but his second
edition has a third more material and is far more complete, and in the letter
that I send, which may not come with this tape, I’ll give you the information
on how you can get one.
What is so important concerning it is: Why did Jesus say, as
He was closing His ministry: “Beware that no one will deceive you, for many
will come in My name saying I am the Christ”—that is believe that He is
the Christ. And how many times did the apostles say: Beware! Beware! Beware!
Watch out! There re going to be those rising, even among yourselves, that are
going to lead people astray. And how is that it happened?
Now, we know that they had the problems with the
circumcision party, which insisted that all new converts be circumcised like
the proselytes for Judaism. That’s one problem. We also have the problem as we
find in Acts, the eighth chapter, with Simon Magus—and he was called the
father of Gnostic Christianity. Well, he was one of them. And as this book
points out—Primitive Christianity in Crisis—Christian
gnosticism came about because of a reformation of the Greek religion, beginning
back in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.—where they essentially gave up
on animal sacrifices and they said that as they looked in the
heavens—well the heavens are perfect and up there is where all the souls
are; and they descend down to earth. And when they descend down to earth to
come into a body of a human—now all of you former Mormons, listen up,
this is pure Mormon doctrine—that there have to be souls to come into the
bodies of babies in order to be saved. So what you have is a Gnostic religion
in Mormonism.
But the pure gnosticism was that they would come down, and
as the entered into the realms of the planets—because the planets, they
saw, had irregular orbits as compared to the heavens, which were regular. So
they said the heavens was where God is, and the souls that are up there are
pure souls, but as they come down through the seven planets—sound a
little bit like your horoscope in your paper today? Do people still believe in
gnosticism? Yes, indeed! Then it would come down and it would enter into
a person. Now depending on how much they were polluted by the seven planets,
coming down—and by the way, the seven planets relate to the seven days of
the week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and so forth.
Now, the Gnostic religion was refined, and it became a
spiritual thing. And part of it was—let’s go back here to Acts
17—and let’s see how Paul encountered them. There were two
kinds—there are more than two kinds—but you have the philosophy of
Plato and then you had Pythagoras and you had some others; and all of these
combined to bring about the immortality of the soul; and the souls coming down
from heaven. And the only thing with gnosticism was this: That you had an
endless—Hinduism is a take-off of it—recycling of your soul until
it is purified and returns to heaven to the ether of God. And that is almost
pure Hinduism today. And they also had it that if you didn’t live a reasonably
decent life, well then you could come back as an animal. Then you have to make
your way out of that of being an animal, and so forth.
What does all of this have to do with Christianity? Because
when they refined and refined it and refined it and it came out to be
Hellenistic gnosticism, you had something very akin to Christianity. And what
they said was, that the God of the Old Testament, and the Hebrews, He was the
evil God. That sound familiar? He was the harsh God. That sound a little
Protestantism? The Father in the New Testament is all pure love. And when they
came into contact with Christianity, they said you’ve got to reform this,
because Christianity was teaching keeping the commandments.
Now, we’re going to see about philosophy
today when we get into Colossians, the second chapter. Let’s pick it up here
beginning in Acts 17:16: “But while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he saw that the city was wholly given to idolatry, and his spirit was
sorely moved within him. Because of this, he reasoned earnestly in the
synagogue with the Jews and those who worshiped there, and daily in the
marketplace with those who met with him…. [So he had the same two
confrontation that we’re confronted with today: Judaism on the one hand, and
Greek, pagan philosophy and religion on the other hand. And when he went to the
marketplace to dispute, here’s who he disputed with]: …Then some philosophers…
[and that’s what gnosticism is—it is Greek philosophy] …of the Epicureans
and the Stoics encountered him….” (vs 16-18). The Epicureans were of this ilk:
God gave us all these places, all these good things, we should use them, we
should enjoy them and since we are spiritual and our souls are going to go back
to heaven, nothing that we do in the material world affects our salvation. Does
that sound familiar? Just like Protestantism—right?
I actually had a woman tell me that her friend, who is a
Baptist, said that when the rapture came, if she were committing adultery, that
Christ would take her to heaven; right out of that adulteress union. What
happened—going back just little bit in history—when Alexander the
Great conquered all the world, the known world at that time, they also brought
in the Hellenistic religion. And they reformed every religion in every country
that they came to to make it conform to one branch of the Greek philosophy. And
that is all gnosticism. Well, they did it to the Jews. And the thing that
people don’t understand is there were Hellenistic Jews. And Jews, as you read
in Acts, the sixth chapter, who were of the synagogue of the
Alexandrians—which was the hotbed of Hellenistic Judaism. And right in the
time of Christ, one of the greatest teachers of Hellenistic Judaism, Phileo,
who believed in Hellenistic Mystic Judaism. Now that’s a strange and a weird
combination; because they believe in souls that come from heaven, that go back
to heaven—you have an immortal soul. They believe that out of the
goodness of your heart you will be good and you don’t need any laws. Does that
sound familiar? And that’s the whole point of Alan Knight’s new book: second
edition of Primitive Christianity in Crisis—that modern day evangelical
Christianity is gnosticism reborn. Quite a good book!
Now, as he points out in the book: Do you think that anyone
who truly believed in the true Christ would be deceived today by the Pope? Hardly
anyone. No, you wouldn’t! Do you think they would be deceived by
Judaism? Well, some have been—sacred names and prayer shawls and
observing the new moon and things like that, circumcision and so forth. But the
one that is most dangerous is modern Gnostic Evangelical Protestantism. We’ll
show you why a little later.
Now then, let’s continue here in v 18—the second group
of philosophers were Stoics. Stoics were these: they said, ‘Look, one way to
purify your soul is get away from all of this material world around you. And
these were the ones who were the founders of monasteries and nunneries and
things like thus where they get away from the world—supposedly. And of
course, a lot of this information we now have because of the Dead Sea scrolls.
And it’s very interesting. We would have had all this information and knowledge
sooner, if the Muslims had not burned the famous library in Alexandria. We
would have known. And likewise, a little later, the library in Laodicea. And I
think it’s very profound that today the biggest problem is Laodiceanism and in
the Churches of God today Protestant evangelical gnosticism. So the Stoics
said, ‘We need to deprive the flesh, we can’t touch this, we can’t handle this,
and we must be stoic and abstain from sex. And the thing that they all got into
was angel-worship—it was all part of it. They also had a ‘savior’ who
died and was resurrected. They also had a ritual of baptism.
So, wherever Paul went, and when Christ preached, these
people heard Him. So the Stoics, they encountered him—continuing in v 18:
“…And some of them said, ‘What will this babbler have to say?’ And some said,
‘He seems to be a preacher of foreign gods’… [they never heard of the
resurrection; they never heard of the mortality of the soul—the soul that
sins it will die. They never heard that you have to keep the commandments that
are found in the Old Testament. This now is harsh! This is what they were up
against] …because he was preaching to them the Gospel of Jesus and the
resurrection. And they took him and brought him to Mars’ hill, saying,
‘May we know what this new teaching is that is spoken by you? For you
are bringing certain strange things to our ears. So then, we desire to know
what these things mean.’ (Now all the Athenians and the strangers
sojourning among them spent their leisure in nothing other than to tell
and to hear something new.)” (vs 18-21).
So they didn’t have TV to distract them. They were very
intelligent people. After all, Pythagoras was mathematics, because
they mixed science in with it, too. When you study algebra one of the first things
you do is the Pythagorean Theory of the square of a triangle and the hypotenuse
and the base. And you get that in what, the sixth grade, fifth
grade—somewhere around there—probably not till the first year of
college today—geometry.
This is the whole thing about gnosticism. There’s also a
gnosticism—and Alan Knight brings it out very well in here—called predestination; fate, fatalism. You have no choice over what you’re going to do. If God loves
you, you’re going to heaven. If God hates you, you’re going to hell. And they
also had a purgatory, too. I mean, this is some really good knowledge and
information to have. So he says:
“Then Paul stood in the center of Mars’ hill and said, ‘Men, Athenians, I perceive that in all things you are very
[superstitious—and that means you are devoted to demon or deities]
…reverent to deities… [that is the angelic worship we’ll get into a little bit
later] …For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your
veneration… [because they don’t want to miss any gods. You’ve got to honor this
one and honor that one and honor the other one and so forth.] …I also found an
altar on which was inscribed, “To an unknown God.” So then, He Whom you worship
in ignorance is the one that I proclaim to you. He is the
God Who made the world and all things that are in it…. [Now, let’s
understand something: In gnosticism, the earth was created by evil beings, and
the God of the Old Testament was a demiurge or a demigod who created the world.
And that’s why there’s evil in the world. So when he says]: …God Who made the
world and all things therein… [this is a profound statement to these
philosophers] …Being the Lord of heaven and earth… [because, you see,
what the Gnostics said is this: there is the Father in heaven, but evil angels
and good angels and the evil God of the Hebrews was the one Who ran this earth.
So this is boring them apart. This is absolutely just like taking a blowtorch
to what they believe. So this is profound because they didn’t think that the
God who ran the earth was the one Who ran heaven. So this is stunning! This is
turning the world upside down.] …He does not dwell in temples made by hands’”
(vs 22-24).
And that’s all the Greeks did, made temples everywhere:
temples to Zeus; temples to Apollos; temples to Mercury; temples to Diana;
temple to Athena; etc., etc., everywhere they went temples to Isis and Osiris
and Tamuz. And of course, the thing is the Jews wanting to blend in with the
Greek society; now you remember that almost three hundred years before Christ,
you have the Septuagint Bible being translated—at least, the law. They
spoke Greek. They loved the Greek philosophy, as witness of Phileo. And I’ve
read all of Phileo’s stuff, and after a while it’s just like reading some of
these other Greek philosophers. What he did, he was the first teacher of what
are called allegorical teachings of the Old Testament—which means
this: you read a law that says something definite and then he weasels around it
by giving an allegorical interpretation. And one of the things that you’ll see
concerning this is it’s all wrapped up in and comes out with Sunday-worship.
And how they allegorically reason about the days of creation and what they
mean. But the long and the short of it is—and you can read it in the book—they
took the seventh day; now the seventh day commemorates what? The creation
and the Sabbath and God’s rest. The seventh day in gnosticism was for the
planet Saturn. And Saturn was the most evil of all the gods. And so, that being
the day of the god of the Hebrews, the Hellenists always ridiculed it; always
deprecated it. And the Jews that converted to Hellenism also did the same
thing.
Now, to help them along their way to hate it, what do you
have on the other side? The scribes, the Pharisees, the traditions, all the
rules, all the laws that governed every thought of every day from the time
you wake up and also during your sleep until the time you get up—all day
long. Yes, the Code of Jewish Law book. And today we have the same thing
within Judaism—don’t we? We have the orthodox. They hate all the other
Jews because they’re too liberal. And the reformed Jews cannot stand the
orthodox Jews because they are just mean and evil with all these laws. So here
comes Christianity in the midst of all of this, you see. Now
- here comes the real
Savior!
- Here comes the One
to bring the true laws.
- Here comes the One
Who created heaven and earth.
- Here comes One, that
contrary to the Greek gnosticism, God actually took upon Him the flesh of human
beings.
So, the Gnostics
were stuck with a problem, as we’ll see. I’m getting a little ahead of the
story, but I’ll finish the thought. What happened was when Christ came down
from heaven, He took over the body of the man Jesus. So now you have what is
called Docetism. And that’s where John refers to “if anyone says that
Christ came not in the flesh is not of God—he’s an antichrist.” Because
they were saying that Christ just possessed the body of the man Jesus. And
before Jesus died on the cross, Christ went back to heaven. So it was only the
man Jesus Who died. This is what they taught. And they did it all from here. So
you see, this is something that was profound and important.
Verse 25: “‘Nor is He served by the hands of men, as though He needs anything, for He gives to all life and breath and all things….
[Ohhh, that just destroys so much of the philosophy of Hellenistic gnosticism,
it’s unreal! Because angels gave a certain kind of life to certain kind of
beings, and the evil God of the Old Testament gave a certain kind of life to the
Jews, and so forth. It’s really quite a thing when you read that book and then
go back and read some of these things, it just kind of opens everything up to
your understanding.] …And He made of one blood all the nations…’” (vs 25-26).
This is not what the Gnostics thought. You had the perfect ones, the spiritual
ones—kind of like the caste of the priesthood of the Roman Catholic
Church today. The Pope, he’s neither a man nor a god—he’s kind of in
between. And then you have all of these superior, spiritual ones and cardinals
and bishops and archbishops and priests and all that sort of thing. These were
the ‘elect.’
Now, Christ comes along and Paul comes along and says brethren
are the elect! That all men are sinners! This is dynamite stuff!
All have to repent! Why should they repent when we’ve got the new
revelation—Hellenistic gnosticism. So this is really profound things
here.
“‘…all the nations of men to dwell upon all the face of the
earth, having determined beforehand their appointed times and the boundaries
of their dwelling; in order that they might seek the Lord… [not worship angels;
not seek demigods; not seek to go back to heaven as a purified spirit.] …if
perhaps they might feel after Him and might find Him; though truly, He is not
far from each one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being… [now
then, he puts the hook into it to get their attention] …as some of the poets
among you also have said, “For we are His offspring.”…. [Oooooo, see, certain
people are not the offspring of God, they can’t be, they’re the offspring of
demons. What’s the old story about giants. That’s a Gnostic story back there in
Gen. 6—and that should be tyrants, not giants. And the story and the
explanation of it comes from the Jewish kabala which is Jewish gnosticism.]
…Therefore, since we are the offspring of God… [that’s an amazing statement,
isn’t it?] …we should not think that the Godhead is like that which is
made of gold, or silver, or stone—a graven thing of art devised
by the imagination of man…’” (vs 26-29). And all of those things were made
to honor the gods. And of course, what are we talking about here?
Just the other day Chad and I were watching some television
and it showed one of these—in Moscow—one the churches with the dome
on top of it, the gold colored dome, and so forth. Now since the steeple is the
male phallic symbol, and the orthodox churches are Gentile, meaning they don’t
circumcise, it takes no imagination to understand what the gold top of the
domes of the orthodox churches really represent. But people don’t understand
that. ‘Oh, isn’t that beautiful. Oh, wow!’ Paul is knocking all of this. And
the orthodox, how they have their icons and their pictures that weep, and the
Catholics have all their statues. The Buddhists have all their statues. All of
this is gnosticism.
Verse 30: “‘For although God has indeed overlooked
the times of this ignorance, He now commands all men everywhere to repent…
[That is startling! That is an amazing message to these people.] …because He
has set a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness… [there’s no
judgment in gnosticism beyond just how you live your life and try and get your
soul back to heaven.] …by a man Whom He has appointed, having given proof to
all by raising Him from the dead’” (vs 30-31). No immortal soul.
So this just came like an atomic bomb right into gnosticism.
Now, let’s backup on the story a little bit here. Another
part of the teachings of the—and it’s also very similar to the teachings
of modern-day evangelical Protestantism, which is this: The Gnostics had the
new knowledge, or the new teaching. What you need is the new knowledge:
We don’t have anything to do with the God of the Hebrews, which is an inferior
God anyway because He’s the one Who created this evil earth anyway. Now we have
a new teaching. In order to fit this into Christianity, what they said
was this: The ministry of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospels, was for the Jews.
After His resurrection and during his forty-day ministry, He revealed many
things to His chosen apostles. Now, that’s a true statement, but in meaning
‘chosen apostles’; it means the ones of gnosticism. And what was the teaching? The teaching is that you don’t have to keep
the law. If you believe in these
teachings of gnosticism and you have God in your heart, you don’t have to keep
the law because the physical material world out there does not affect your
salvation. Now, doesn’t that sound an awful lot like modern day Protestantism? Yes, indeed! That’s exactly, exactly what happened.
Now then, when you come to some
of the teachings of John—let’s go back here to the book of 1-John and we
will look at some of these. We’re able to understand many of these things today
because there is what is called the Nag Hammadi Library that was discovered in
upper Egypt. That’s where they found the so-called gospel of Barnabus, and the
so-called gospel of Thomas, and the gospel of Mary Magdalene, and the apocrypha
of John and the gospel of Peter, and all of these are Gnostic writings written
by someone else.
But here’s one here, which you will get in the letter but
I’m going to go ahead and read it here—pg 2 (Primitive Christianity in
Crisis, 2nd ed.).:
The scholar John Turner in his introductory comments to his
translation of the Nag Hammadi text, the book of Thomas, the contender has the
following to say about the Gnostic penchants for progressive revelation…
And that’s what have in Protestantism today—don’t we? Dispensationalism! Well, under the dispensation of the law they were saved by the law, etc. Under
the dispensation of grace we’re saved by grace and we don’t need law.
…and rejection of Jesus’ earthly ministry, here he comments
on a certain class of Gnostic text. These dialogs are set at a time between the
resurrection and ascension when both He [Christ] and His teachings were
available to select apostles in a form unclouded by the sort of materiality
which was believed to obscure the spiritual significance of His earthly
pre-existence teaching.
In other words His teachings in the Gospels were contaminated
with materialism, because He was not yet resurrected.
This special teaching might consist of enlightening
commentary on His darker earthly teachings or even new revelation to special
apostles.
Now, I want to read you something—let’s go to 2-Corinthians
11—this is going to make more sense than ever before when you understand
that there were Gnostic Christians whose sole goal and motive in life was to
reform Christianity from it’s Hebrew roots. They had apostles. We just read it
here. What did Paul write about? False apostles.
2-Corinthians 11:1—this is going to
open up like you will never believe. “I would that you might bear with me
in a little nonsense; but indeed, do bear with me. For I am jealous over you
with the jealousy of God because I have espoused you to one husband, so
that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear,
lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness… [who is what? Satan the devil] …so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For indeed, if someone comes preaching
another Jesus… [the Docetic Jesus—the man Jesus and the spirit soul
Christ, united together in one body] …whom we did not preach, or you receive a
different spirit… [which is what? A satanic spirit.] …which you did not
receive, or a different gospel… [a new dispensation of enlightenment that was
given to only special apostles, after His resurrection] …which you did
not accept, you put up with it as something good” (vs 1-4). You just sit
there and go along with it when you can see why the Greeks would. He had a real
difficult problem here—didn’t he?
Verse 5. “But I consider myself in no way inferior to those
highly exalted so-called apostles.” Now, that’s a correct translation,
especially in the light of what we just read; because there were those going
around saying they were apostles. You put up with them. Then he goes on and
explains certain things. Now, let’s come down here to v 13: “For such are false apostles—deceitful workers who are transforming themselves into
apostles of Christ. And it is no marvel, for Satan himself transforms
himself into an angel of light…. [and what was the whole goal of gnosticism? Knowledge
to enlighten.] …Therefore, it is no great thing if his servants also
transform themselves as ministers of righteousness—whose end shall be
according to their works. Again I say, no one should consider me a fool; but if
otherwise, receive me even as a fool, that I also may boast a little. What I am now saying, I do not speak according to the Lord, but as in
foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. Since many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast. For since you are so intelligent, you gladly
bear with fools…. [and that perfectly describes exactly what happened to all of
those who have subverted to Gnostic Protestantism—the modern version
today—and that it happened in a major Church of God.] …For you bear it if anyone brings you into bondage, if anyone devours you, if anyone
takes from you, if anyone exalts himself, if anyone beats you on the
face. I speak as though we were under reproach for being weak; but in whatever way anyone else is bold (I speak in foolishness), I also am bold” (vs 13-21).
Now notice v 22—Are they Japanese? Are they Italian?
Where did they come from? Who were they? He says: “Are they Hebrews?…. [These
are Jewish Hellenistic Gnostics setting about to reform Christianity and give
them the new knowledge that comes from gnosticism. What did Satan tell
Eve? ‘If you eat of this tree you will be as gods—you’ll be enlightened.’
They are Hebrews.] …So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I…. [Well now, notice how many people that excludes.
This can only be Jewish Hellenistic religion.] …Are they servants of Christ? (I
am speaking as if I were out of my mind.) So am I, above and beyond measure—in
labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in imprisonments more frequent,
in deaths often” (vs 22-23).
Now you see, the Hellenistic Gnostic Christians did
not—they did not—suffer these things. Why? Why did they not suffer
these things? Have you ever wondered? Let’s go back to 1-John, the fourth
chapter—we’ll look at just a couple of things here. Here’s why
Protestantism succeeds so well in the world. And why—you can add on
Catholicism. Catholicism is just a more idolatrous form of gnosticism. I just
want to inject one thing here—that I’m going to have to write
on—what is a cult? A cult is anything that does not follow and believe
the Word of God. That means Catholicism is a cult. Islam is a cult.
Hinduism is a cult. Protestantism is a cult. Anyone who believes in the trinity
is following a cult. And it all comes from paganism and Hellenistic
Christianity.
1-John 4:1: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test
the spirits, whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone
out into the world. By this test you can know the Spirit of God:
every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is
from God. And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh is not from God…. [and that was the new teaching—Docetism.] …And this is the spirit of antichrist,
which you heard was to come, and even now it is already in the world.
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is He
Who is in you than the one who is in the world” (vs 1-4).
So you see, if you go after this Gnostic Christianity, even
in today’s form in Protestantism, you are going to an inferior belief that
promises freedom but brings you into bondage; because if you have the Spirit of
God in you, ‘the one Who is you is greater than the one who is in the world;
and the one who is in the world is antichrist and Satan.’] …They are of the
world… [profound statement—not of God] …because of this, they speak of
the world, and the world listens to them” (v 5).
I don’t know if you were watching the news, but I was
watching Scarborough Country and they were talking about Christmas and they had
Jerry Falwell on there and they had an atheist on there and all this sort of
thing. ‘Is it right to have nativity scenes on state property?’ and all this
sort of thing. This is just a satanic subterfuge to keep you away from the true
God. It’s amazing!
(go to the next track)
1-John 4:5: “They are of the world… [not from God] …because
of this, they speak of the world, and the world listens to them. We are of God;
the one who knows God listens to us; the one who is not of God does not listen
to us. By this means we know the Spirit of the truth and the spirit of
the deception” (vs 5-6). That’s what’s so important.
Now let’s look at some other profound Scriptures that we
have here. Let’s come back to 1-John 1:1: “That which was from the beginning… [what was the Gnostic Christian gospel? Oh, Jesus’ earthly ministry
was polluted because it was the man Jesus and the spirit Christ. So therefore,
you don’t need to listen to the Gospels. You need to listen to the things of
Paul. Isn’t it profound that how in the original order of the New
Testament—remember when we covered it—what do we have? We have the
General Epistles first before we get to Paul. There’s a reason for all of
this.] …that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our own eyes,
that which we observed for ourselves and our own hands handled, concerning the
Word of life…” We’re reporting this to you.
Now notice, when he comes over here, he says, v 5: And this
is the message that we have heard from Him and are declaring to you: that God
is light… [that is the one Who created the earth, not the demigod of the gnosticism]
…and there is no darkness at all in Him.” Because you see, the various souls
had various aspects of light and darkness in them, depending on when they were
born, according to the astrological charts. Does that sound familiar today? Yes,
indeed! Same way with God.
Now we come on over here, come to 1-John 2:3—we
covered this before, but let’s just look at this. We’re setting the record
straight against the lawlessness of those people who say you don’t have to keep
the commandments of God, you just have it all in your heart. If you’re a good
person you automatically do everything that you need to do. And if you don’t do
it, well then, don’t worry about it because it has nothing to do with your
salvation. John [transcriber’s correction] sets the record straight:
“And by this standard we know that we know Him: if we keep His
commandments.” That’s what he’s harping on all the way through here.
Verse 4: “The one who
says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the
truth is not in him…. [Who were the ones that said they know Him and were
keeping the commandments but the Gnostic Hellenistic Christians. And who were
former Jews, Hebrews and Israelites.] …On the other hand, if anyone is
keeping His Word… [that’s contrary to gnosticism; and isn’t this what
Protestantism hits us with today? Oh you keep the commandments. Oh you’re
seeking salvation and justification by works. No!] …truly in this one the
love of God is being perfected. By this means we know that we are in Him.
Anyone who claims to dwell in Him is obligating himself also to walk even as He
Himself walked” (vs 4-6). What is that? Christ in His physical, earthly
ministry as He walked—the ‘inferior ministry’ they were rejecting!
‘Another Jesus’ that they were preaching!
Now notice again, v 7: “Brethren, I am not writing a new
commandment to you… [because that’s what they were doing, coming in with a new
commandment. ‘Oh, we’ve got a new way of looking at this.’] …but an old
commandment, which you had from the beginning… [You get out your
handy-dandy concordance and look up the word beginning in 1-John and you will
see that he constantly—1-John, 2-John & 3-John—goes back to the
beginning, the beginning, the beginning. Because these Gnostics were saying
‘No, we don’t have to go back to the beginning of the ministry of Christ,
because after His resurrection He had a NEW enlightenment for the special apostles.] …the old commandment is the message that you have heard from the beginning.”
Now, let’s come Colossians, the first chapter. It’s very
interesting that at the end of the book of Colossians Paul says what? Read
this epistle in the Church of Laodicea. And who dares? Now, we don’t have
the Epistle of the Laodiceans—this is quite good enough.
Let’s see here just in the first chapter some very profound
and important things which combat gnosticism, then in the second chapter we get
into the very heart and core of gnosticism.
Colossians
1:8—it talks about how they received and so forth: Who has also informed
us… [that is, Epaphras] …of your love in the Spirit. For this cause we
also, from the day that we heard of it, do not cease to pray for you and
to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will… [now notice,
knowledge is ‘gnosis’ and ‘epignosis’ and the Gnostics means knowledge—gnostic. So this is directly against it. This is the knowledge of HIS will] …in all
wisdom… [‘sophia’—which is part of the word ‘phiosphias’—philosophers]
…and spiritual understanding… [these false Gnostic apostles were saying you
don’t have the spiritual understanding.] … That you may walk worthily of the
Lord, unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work… [the Gnostics, just
like the Protestants today don’t believe in good works. Oh, they believe in
some, but not the way that Paul is writing about here. Notice, quite contrary
to the Gnostics] …and growing in the knowledge of God” (vs 8-10).
Only the Gnostics
could grow in the knowledge of God as they would profess. These people who kept
the commandments, they couldn’t grow in knowledge; they’re limiting themselves,
they’re hindering grace, they’re cutting off the spirit. Same thing today.
“Being strengthened with all power according
to the might of His glory, unto all endurance and long-suffering with joy;
giving thanks to the Father, Who has made us qualified for the share of the
inheritance of the saints in the light… [It’s God the Father Who makes your
qualified, not some angel. Today in Catholicism they have angel-worship. We’ll
see a little later those are called ‘saints’ so they build a little statue. And
this pope has made more cardinals and more saints than any other pope in
history. All that gets back to the same thing] …Who has personally
rescued us from the power of darkness… [that is another profound
statement, because it’s not God and gnosticism who is to rescue you from the
power of darkness; it is the enlightenment of the their gnosis or knowledge
that is to rescue you.] …and has transferred us unto the kingdom of the
Son of His love; in Whom we have redemption
through His own blood… [that s a terrible thing. That’s why the Eucharist is an
unbloody sacrifice and comes out of Egypt.] …even the remission of sins”
(vs 11-14).
Notice v 15: “Who is the image of the invisible God… [so the Gnostics believe that the heavens were God.
Anybody remember the name Stavrinides? That God is everywhere. What did he
bring into the Church? Hellenistic gnosticism! And what did they all
say? Oh, it’s so wonderful when you understand it. It really means if
you allow your brain to get so messed up that you think you comprehend it, and
you get this warm, fuzzy feeling—then you’ve made it, which is just the
opposite—you have just lost it.
The comment was made: Isn’t Satan sneaky? Yes! He
wants to deceive the elect. And we’re looking at some of his devices on how he
has done this. We will never, never read the New Testament the same again once
you understand about Hellenistic gnosticism—the reformer of primitive
Christianity, out of which came the Roman Catholic Church. And then the
reformation, when they got done with it they never really got back to sola
scriptura, as they said they were, the Scriptures only, they got back
another form of gnosticism. Amazing! What did Solomon say? “There’s nothing new
under the sun.” So what he’s saying here, if you have seen Christ—just
like Christ said—you’ve seen the Father.
“…the firstborn of all creation… [this means the
firstborn from among the dead (as we’ll see here in just a minute). Again,
this gets back to Jesus’ birth. So you can say this: In His physical birth,
through the virgin Mary, He was the firstborn of all the creation of mankind by
the preeminence of the fact that He was the Creator. He explains about Christ
and how profound He was and what He did]: …because by Him were all things
created… [He’s greater than anything that has been created; any philosopher who
comes along and says the Hebrew God of the Old Testament was an inferior God. No!]
…created all things, the things in heaven… [when you say that the pure souls of
evil lived] …and the things on earth… [that you say were made by demons] …the
visible and the invisible, whether they be thrones, or lordships, or
principalities, or powers… [and part of gnosticism was to do what? Get in
touch with the powers, the angelic.] …all things were created by Him and
for Him. And He is before all, and by Him all things subsist” (vs 14-17). And
as Hebrews, the first chapter shows, He upholds the universe by the word of His
power.
“And He is the Head of the body, the church… [what came out
of gnosticism? The Pope, who’s the head of the church. I mean, all of
this stuff is so relevant today; but it is profound to understand where it came
from so that you realize what’s going on.] …Who is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He Himself might hold the
preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him… [not some other
Christ] …all the fullness should dwell; and, having made peace through the
blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself; by Him, whether
the things on the earth… [meaning not to any of the Gnostic knowledge and the
rituals that they go through] …or the things in heaven” (vs 18-20). Because he
has to straighten out the things in heaven because of the rebellion of Satan
the devil and the angels—correct? Yes!
Verse 21: “For you were once alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works; but now He has reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, to present
you Holy and unblamable and unimpeachable before Him” (vs 21-22). That’s quite
a thing! That’s how you stand before God. He wants you to know that through
Christ this is accomplished and not through the false knowledge as gnosis as we
will see here in just a little bit.
Verse 27: “…Christ in you, the hope of glory”
Colossians 2:1: “Now I want you to understand what great
concern I have for you, and for those in Laodicea, and as many as have
not seen my face in the flesh… [and it might well that he have concern
with the things going on] …That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together
in love unto all riches of the full assurance… [now, the riches ‘ploutos’ is
one of the things that the Gnostics wanted you to do is be
fulfilled—‘pleroma.’ You’re fulfilled in Christ.] …and understanding…
[that comes from God] …unto the knowledge of the mystery of God… [the
true mystery vs the gnosis mystery] and of the Father, and of Christ… [Now notice v 3, it
is an absolute key verse]: …in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge” (vs 1-3). Not in demigods, not in angels, not in gnosis
of teaching—but in God!
Verse 4—he’s starting to get into it: “Now this I say
so that no one may deceive you by persuasive speech. For though I am indeed
absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing and beholding your
order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ…. [now then, he starts
really getting into it in v 6]: …Therefore,
as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord… [‘the way I preached it to
you’—not the false apostles, not the Gnostics, because we’re going to get
into it here in just a second.] …be walking in Him… [and of course, as we saw
in 1-John, ‘walking in His commandments’] …being rooted and built up in
Him… [notice the emphasis here] …and being confirmed in the faith,
exactly as you were taught… [no new knowledge coming in] …abounding in
it with thanksgiving. Be on guard… [now here’s a key verse] …so
that no one takes you captive through philosophy…” (vs 4-8). And that’s
where we started in Acts 17—right? Yes! And gnosticism is
philosophy. Greek religion is philosophy.
When I was going to attend the University of San
Francisco—which is a Jesuit university in San Francisco, back in
1963—what was one of the first required courses that they would have you
take. I finished two years at the College of San Mateo, and I was going to
take, at that time, a business course because they had a renowned business
school up there. I was just getting the Plain Truth and just getting
some of these things so I had some knowledge, but I had no designs of going to
Ambassador College at that point. So I figured, well, I’ll get my business
degree and so forth. And in the Plain Truth we were getting the “Ten
Commandment” series and “Satan’s Great Deception”—which was perfect for
me to have going to a Jesuit university, to see all that nonsense going on up
there. So one of the first classes—and it’s mandatory that you take
it—Philosophy 101. You see, the Roman Catholic faith is not based upon
the Bible, it’s based upon human philosophy and the traditions of the fathers.
And I say there and I was listening to this, having ringing and clanging around
in my mind about “Satan’s Great Deception” and the “Ten Commandments”; and here
I’m getting all this philosophy and I’m sitting there saying to myself: What am
I doing here?!
I know God was dealing with me, and so just before I
withdrew—you have to withdraw in six weeks so you don’t get any bad
grades on the transcript or anything—so one of the things that did it:
they had all of the busts of all of these “important people” and in the front
of every classroom they had a crucifix, and I was standing up in between
classes and I was looking down and they had a nice little square down there
where you could walk from one building to another building, and I was up there
just before class and I was looking down there and here comes a Jesuit in his
long cloth-sack robe with his prayer missal walking along and I just got done
reading about the Pharisees and scribes that go around in long robes and like
the salutations of everyone. So here he’s walking, doing his prayer-walk with
his Catholic missal. And a missal is not a weapon, it is a prayer-book.
So the students come along and say “Hi, father” and he bows
his head and I thought: I’ve got to get out of here! That’s when I made
up my mind, I’m going to withdraw. So I did. I went down to the main office and
said I have to withdraw, and as I walked into the main office, guess what
greeted me? This great, huge picture—it must have been five feet high and
at least three feet wide—of a bust figure of ‘Christ’ with long hair and
a beard and this little crown of thorns on his head with one little drop of
blood coming down with this very feminized real meek look on him. And I said, I’ve
got to get out of here! Anyway, that’s how God got me out of that mess. So
you have to have knowledge and understanding of God’s Word to understand what’s
going on. And just look was a little bit did for me.
Verse 8: “…through philosophy and vain deceit… [because it’s
all a lie! It’s all a lie! It’s all a fable! Every bit of it’s a fable!]
…according to the traditions of men… [and what do they say when they’re
confronted with Scriptural truth? Well, we have our traditions! The
traditions of the ‘fathers.’ Where do they come from?] …according to the
elements of the world… [now this could have reference to the elemental spirits
or the demons of this world.] …and not according to Christ…. [Now notice v 9 is
a key verse]: …For in Him [Christ] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily… [See now, that is directly against gnosticism.] …and you
are complete in Him… [You don’t need these Gnostics. You don’t need
philosophy. You don’t need vain deception.] …Who is the Head of all
principality and power” (vs 8-10). Now the thing is this: If you get involved
in gnosticism, you’re getting involved (as we’ll see in a little bit) in
angel-worship, who the greatest of those could be what? Principalities and
powers. God doesn’t want you worshiping those. He wants you worshiping Him!
So you’re complete in Him!
Notice v 11: “In Whom you
have also been circumcised with the circumcision not made by hands, in
putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ…
[that’s a permanent change of the heart and mind that is accomplished by the
Spirit of Christ.] …Having been buried with Him in baptism… [because
they also had their own baptisms] …by which you have also been raised with Him through the inner working of God, Who raised Him from the dead. For you, who
were once dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your
flesh, He has now made alive with Him, having forgiven all your
trespasses…. [now notice the translation of v 14, which does away with the
modern gnostic teaching of doing away with the commandments of God; and this is
as accurate a translation as you can get]: …He has blotted out the note of
debt… [and Hislop and The Two Babylons show that people were to keep a
list of their sins and so forth. What do some of these religions require you to
do today? Have a journal. And what do you do with this journal? You
list all your sins and all your good points—right? That’s what this
is talking about—a listing of them.] …against us with the decrees of
our sins, which was contrary to us… [the laws of God have never been
contrary to us, they are good. They define sin so we can stop sin.] …and He has
taken it [the note of debt] away, having nailed it [the note of debt] to the
cross” (vs 11-14).
Having nothing to do with nailing the Ten Commandments to
the cross. This translation clarifies it, doesn’t it? Yes!
Now, v 15: “After stripping the principalities
and the powers… [it’s important to understand that all the demonic powers] …He
made a public spectacle of them, and has triumphed over them in
it”—‘in it’ means through His crucifixion, death and resurrection to triumph over all the powers of evil, Satan the devil and the demonic fallen
angels. This is important to understand, because we need to go through the rest
of this chapter to really grasp it.
Now v 16, another key one. The Gnostic Christianity of the
world reads this verse this way: ‘Since you don’t keep the Holy Days, and since
you don’t keep the Sabbath, and since you can eat any meat you want, don’t let
anyone judge you in doing those things.’ Now, who ever judged them—from
the world—from doing those things? Nobody! Nobody judges them for
going to church on Sunday. Only those who are Sabbath-keepers, but we don’t
stand up and say, ‘Ohhhh, I saw you go to church on Sunday!’ No! But they do
that to us—are you a Jew? Now a point was made that is very good:
The Colossians were a Gentile community, this is a Gentile church. So for them
to convert from philosophic gnosticism and come out of that and begin keeping
the Sabbath and the Holy Days, what would all of their friends do? They
would judge them. How? Well, you meet on Saturn’s day, the most evil day
of the week? You don’t eat any more pork? You don’t follow the Roman
calendar anymore? You what? You keep Passover? Unleavened Bread? Are you Jews? Sure!
That’s what it means judge you. You cannot judge someone concerning
these things unless you are doing them.
Now, let’s just read it through without any comment this
time and you’ll see how clear it becomes: “Therefore, do not allow anyone to
judge you in eating or in drinking… [because the Stoics said no wine.
The Epicureans said get drunk. The Jews said no unclean foods. The pagans say eat anything you want. Like in New Guinea, one of the
things they delight in are roasted huge, giant termites about the size of a
golf ball—luscious and slimy and delicious. Now what did I just do, I
just judged them for eating it, didn’t I? So if they began following God’s way
they were being judged for following God’s way, by other people.] …or with
regard to a festival, or new moon… [there’s no article there; this has to do
with calendar calculation—not observing of the new moon on a monthly
basis, otherwise it would say: new moons (plural) as it does with Sabbaths or the
Sabbaths; because in saying when you are keeping these things what is this
doing? It is teaching you. Has that not happened to us when we keep the
Holy Days? Do we not learn? Does it not teach us? Do we not dwell in grace and
knowledge through God’s Spirit? Yes!] …or the Sabbaths,
Notice v 17: “Which are a foreshadow of the
things that are coming… [and the new modern translations translate that: a
foreshadow of things that were to come; saying that in Christ they have
been completed and you don’t need to keep the Sabbath; you don’t need to keep
the dietary laws; you don’t need to keep the Holy Days—because those
things were completed and that’s exactly the gnostic teaching today that they
were teaching then. So, does this not open up Col. 2? Now I know I’ve given
quite a few sermons on Col. 2, and this is covering the same ground with a
little bit different knowledge bringing into it and from a little bit different
angle.] …but the Body of Christ.” The completion of the thought means: In any
of these foregoing things, let the Body of Christ judge you in it—which
is what? The Church!
Now then, v 18 is key. Now that he’s all done with this, he
gets into the nitty-gritty of it: “Do not allow anyone to defraud you of the
prize by doing his will in self-abasement and the worship
of angels… [principalities and powers—and that ties right back in with v
8: ‘beware lest anyone takes you captive through philosophy or vain deceit
according to the traditions of men.’ Don’t let any man get you involved in
it—according to the ‘elements of the world, not according to Christ.’ And
v 15: the principalities, too. See how it all ties together. That’s what they
were doing: self-abasement, worship of angels] …intruding into things that he
has not seen, vainly puffed up by his own carnal mind…” As it appeals to the
carnal mind. It gives you power without having to submit to God. That’s what
the thing is.
Now, when they got into angel-worship—v
19—here’s what happens: “And not holding fast to the Head [Christ], from
Whom all the body, being supplied and knit together by the joints and bands, is
increasing with the increase of God. Therefore, if you have died
together with Christ from the elements of the world [Hellenistic
gnosticism], why are you subjecting yourselves to the decrees of men as if you were living in the world? They say, ‘You may not
handle! You may not taste! You may not touch!’ The use of all such things leads
to corruption… [and ever gnostic-type community has been known to be led into
all kinds of corruption] …according to the commandments and doctrines of men,
which indeed have an outward appearance of wisdom in voluntary worship of
angels, and self-abasement, and unsparing treatment of the body, not
in any respect to the satisfying of the needs of the flesh” (vs 19-23).
You’re not going to stop lust by beating your back. Now the
Catholics have it today where that you flagellate yourself with a little whip,
and they like to do this during Lent and during the crucifixion week. And there
are even some in the Philippines that, what do they do? They have themselves
crucified! They run the nails right through their hands and they put them
up on a cross and this is some big thing to do.
One of the greatest rip-off artists in the world was just
made a saint! Mother Teresa. The Catholics got millions and millions and
millions soliciting for her. And she was what? Under a poverty vow. And
she never had a hospital. That’s why she was made a saint, so they can continue
under the name of Saint Mother Teresa. Now we can get more millions, see.
This gives you just a little inkling of some of the things
that are in the Bible which shows us and exposes today, not only the ‘old time
religion’ of gnosticism, but the new ‘old time religion’ of evangelical
Protestantism and their grace and lawlessness. What was made that we heard
about the duality of prophecies and things in the Old Testament that the New
Testament has a lot of duality to it—yes, indeed, it does, without a
doubt.
All Scriptures in New
Testament from The N.T. in its Original Order, A Faithful Version
- Exception:
Colossians: Expanded Amplified Version
Scriptural
References:
1) Acts 17:16-31
2) 2-Corinthians 11:1-5, 13-23
3)
1 John 4:1-6
4)
1 John 1:1
5) 1 John 2:3-7
6) Colossians 1:8-22, 27
7) Colossians 2:1-23
Scriptures
referenced, not quoted:
Also referenced,
Books:
- Primitive Christianity in Crisis by Alan Knight
- · Code of Jewish Law by Solomon Ganzfried & Hyman Goldin
- The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop
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